Jewish legal works

The largest part of this collection is the influential Small Book of Commandments (aka The Gates of Exile) by Isaac ben Joseph of Corbeil (d. 1280) containing ca. 300 precepts. The work is divided into seven parts (pillars) corresponding to the days of the week. The beginnings of six parts have rich marginal illustrations. Zooming in on the digital images helps us see details of these small illustrations. It also reveals a peculiar marginal inscription quoting a Latin hymn with anti-Jewish sentiment. 


Jewish legal works

Western Ashkenaz (Rhineland, Meuse area, or Brabant), 1346
Hebrew MS 31
Folio 77b from Hebrew MS 31, showing a painted frontispiece.

Day Six. This pillar discusses commandments related to money (precepts nos. 239-290).

Crop from folio 39a showing a quote in Latin.

The quote from the Latin hymn in the margins of the section on laws of marriage: Erubescat Judeus infelix qui dicit Christus ex Iosephi semine est natus -- "May the unlucky Jew be thoroughly ashamed who says that Christ was born of the seed of Joseph."